ANYONE suffering from an autoimmune rheumatic disease process is at increased risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease). As explained to me by my cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, this is due to the way in which rheumatic inflammation attacks the epithelial cells and arterial walls...and it allows plaque to build easier then in a patient without rheumatic disease.

With your history, you really should have a full cardiac work-up as a part of preventative care to catch any issues BEFORE it becomes acute.

You may have some early signs of autonomic dysfunction, but even early symptoms would be BP drops when standing, tachy/brady heart rates, and GI dysmotility...they would just all be less severe in nature. It's not like autonomic dysfunction starts as high BP and then changes to something else later. It STARTS as drops in BP when you stand...this is the classic presentation. High BP would/could be a sign of something else, like CVD. Arrhythmia would/could be sign of CVD or other cardiac problem...not so much as autonomic. This is because autonomic nerves control very specific functions and when those nerves are affected, then very specific symptoms begins.

I do hope your gallbladder removal calms some of your discomfort and symptoms, BUT I doubt it explains everything. You obviously have neuropathy...likely inflammatory.

What 'phantom' pain do you have...what has been amputated or nerve severed? I have had phantom pain due to sural nerve biopsy (not skin biopsy) where they actually removed a sizable section of nerve and therefore everything below this point is dead...completely dead (yet pain can still occur as if it still there). Phantom pain occurs when you still get pain from an area that is not there (been amputated) or otherwise nerves are not intact. Have you had something surgically removed or otherwise damaged in regards to your nerves?